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I wanted nothing more than to lay claim to her and mark my name all over her body; to drown her in my scent and never let any other man or woman catch sight of her wonderous beauty and captivating spirit.
Possessive, me. Really?
It’d been so long since I’d felt anything close to it that I didn’t immediately recognize the feeling until Sloan chuckled at something V said and touched her hand with a gentleness she’d argue I was incapable of.
Anger burned like the fires of Hell in my throat, and I clenched my hand into a fist to keep from reaching out and smacking the offensive hand away. Then, for two hours, I was subjected to the torture of their intimate conversation.
Possessive didn’t seem a strong enough word for what I felt sitting there, party to their happy laughter.
Sloan was kind and generous, a real compassionate person, but he’d never smiled at another person the way he did with V in all the time I’d known him.
Sloan didn’t waste time on people he didn’t find interesting, and he didn’t engage women or men in long conversations without a motive. Often, in the hopes of obtaining something necessary for a mission and not for his own personal gain.
Not even Kris, his partner, inspired the smile he gave V.
Foremost, the usually aloof Hunter’s look of captivation and determination to be near the feisty Hunter, to go as far as to suggest a date as a prize to the winner of our bet, put me on edge. It took me off guard at first, because while polite, Sloan rarely pursued personal entanglements with other Hunters—and especially not ones who spelled tragedy the way V did.
She was an enigma like we were. Branded from birth. Another reminder of the cruelty of the Organization and what we fought against that would most likely claim our lives one day. And V was still fairly untrained and vulnerable. She’d put whoever stood by her side in danger, and that person may one day be forced to make a choice between saving themselves or her.
Unfortunately, she was both our most powerful weapon and greatest weakness. Now even more so with magic involved.
Hence why I couldn’t utter it to Sloan.
I wanted to confirm what she could do before I put it out there. Cassius didn’t necessarily have a reason to lie, and not while under the influence of the Truth Cuff, but I wouldn’t take chances where V was concerned.
Even without all that, to get involved with her made us a target to anyone who wanted her abilities for themselves. And like myself, Sloan’s main priority was self-preservation. For most Hunters it was.
At our level, it was the only thing that kept us alive.
Rarely did protecting anyone matter when their life was forfeit the minute the Organization deemed it so. Unless told to rescue survivors at any cost, our priority was to carry out the initial objective. As a tool to the Organization, we didn’t get to argue. It was every Hunter for themselves, and the sole reason very few at our level took on partners. He and I, if given the choice, would choose to save ourselves instead of the other person.
At least, at one time, that was true. Now I wasn’t so sure. V changed a lot of things, and lately I’d been completely devoted to protecting her at all costs, even if it meant laying down my life to make it happen. It wasn’t normal, and I struggled to put a meaning to it.
Love.
I’d blacklisted the word since I lost Giselle. Love was complicated without the risk of life or death. So understandably, many of us top-level Hunters chose casual sexual relationships over more serious romantic entanglements. It made it easier to end things and not assign words if I didn’t want to. But V had been different in every way from the start.
Just like her grandmother was.
When Rose announced her engagement, to a human no less, Hunters all over the Organization reacted in pure astonishment. She’d not only fallen in love, but with someone who couldn’t even properly protect themselves. Plenty judged her for the decision. Not that she cared about what anyone else had to say. Knowing Rose, anyone who had the balls to say it to her face got the middle finger and a punch to the gut.
Rose walked her own path and followed her own rules. She never answered to anyone. Her wisdom and clever thinking inspired an entire generation of Hunters. Rose faced everything head-on and with strong determination, and it wasn’t surprising V carried the same strong light Rose did.
When it was clear the mission she’d been assigned to do outside of her retirement was a trap, Rose didn’t hesitate. Instead, the retired Hunter made plans to counter and keep her granddaughter safe. Rose took on the challenge and didn’t let anything I tried to say dissuade her. She was decided and no one would convince her to run.
God, I revered that woman.
But love was complicated in every form it took.
What I knew about Sloan was that while open to romance, he didn’t actively pursue it. In the past, Sloan entertained casual relationships, but nothing more. He and Kris were more like siblings than anything. Not that it mattered. Kris was married to the job and our secret mission to overthrow the Organization.
Honestly, so was Sloan.
He’d lost a loved one, but never said how or when. The sad memory of them swam in his eyes every time love was brought up, but Sloan was better at disguising his pain than most.
Ironically, V had said the very same thing Sloan once uttered to me fifty years prior, after a particularly rough night experimenting with the serum.
He’d asked why I wanted to kill myself. He was gentle but firm, and his question never once came off as accusatory. I’d gone into detail about vowing never to love again, about how little life made sense after I lost Giselle, and he’d listened intently without interrupting. True to form, Sloan didn’t berate my choices. He simply offered his own contradictory view.
